Iscandarian (2199)
This article describes the Iscandarian species as depicted in ''Space Battleship Yamato 2199. For the homeworld of the species, see Iscandar (2199). For the species' counterpart in the original Space Battleship Yamato and Yamato: The New Voyage, see Iscandarian (OS). For the similarly named half of the hive mind consciousness in the live action film, see Iskandar.'' Iscandarians are a sapient species native to the planet Iscandar. Biology In 2199 CE, the only surviving Iscandarians are siblings, and do not necessarily represent the full range of features in the species. They are generally human in appearance, except for exceptionally brighter eye colors in some cases. The memories stored in Iscandarian brains can be accessed by equipment designed for humans. Genetic differences between the two species are negligible, enough for an Iscandarian woman to conceive a child with a human father. Despite the similarities with humans, Iscandarians possess significant psychic capabilities, including some telepathy and the ability to project individual consciousness into other beings and to take partial control of them ("Clockwork Prisoner", "The Whisper of the Witch", "Out of the Forest of Memory", "The Distant Promised Land"). History Ancient History With the development of wave motion technology, Iscandarians built an empire that stretched across the Large Magellanic Cloud. The empire's rule was brutal, even using wave motion weapons to destroy entire worlds. It eventually abandoned its aggressive ways and undertook missions of peace, including one to the planet Beemela 4 sometime around the year 1800. As the empire fell back to its homeworld, Iscandar continued to rely on wave motion technology, but refused to share it with other races out of fear that it would be an irresistible temptation to their own imperial ambitions ("A Choice for the Future", "The Distant Promised Land"). Recent History The population of Iscandar plummeted over centuries, until only three Iscandarians remained at the beginning of the year 2199: Queen Starsha Iscandar and her sisters, the princesses Sasha and Yurisha ("The Distant Promised Land"). Prior to 2199, a young Garmillan political leader, Abelt Dessler, personally courted the queen of Iscandar with a proposal to unify the remains of her empire with the Great Garmillas Empire. Starsha apparently accepted some aspects of Dessler's proposal, despite hesitation on her part about deep differences between their two societies. Garmillas of all ranks displayed attitudes of reverence toward Starsha and her sisters, and Garmillas research and development made progress on designing a wave motion system of their own. Construction began on a massive space station that would serve as the capital city of the unified empire ("Wish Upon a Star", "The Planet That We Head For", "The Distant Promised Land"). Starsha's hesitation was confirmed by Dessler's continuing campaign of conquest, and in particular by attacks on Earth that threatened to drive all life on the planet to extinction. In secret, Starsha dispatched her sisters on two separate trips to Earth with an offer of the Cosmo Reverse System to restore the planet's biosphere, plans for a wave motion engine, and a wave motion core to power it. Both sisters were successful, but at the cost of Sasha's life in a crash on Mars, and an incident on Earth that injured Yurisha and the human officer escorting her, Lieutenant Yuki Mori. With a comatose Yurisha under medical care (but able to provide guidance through psychic possession of Warrant Officer Yuria Misaki), the new Earth ship, Yamato, departed for Iscandar ("Messenger of Iscandar", "Toward a Sea of Stars", "Out of the Forest of Memory"). Dessler quickly realized Starsha's involvement, but kept knowledge of it to himself as long as possible. However, after [[The Witch Whispers|learning that Yurisha was aboard Yamato]], he saw a political opportunity and ordered his forces to abduct Yursiha during a battle with the Earth ship and bring her to Garmillas. The soldiers carrying out the mission unknowingly captured Lieutenant Mori, whose resemblance to Yurisha was striking. Dessler was undeterred and presented Mori to the public as a princess of Iscandar—and as endorsement of the final unification of their two worlds. Soon afterward, the plan collapsed following a series of events that destroyed Dessler's new capital and drove him from power ("They're Coming!", "Under a Rainbow Sun", "The Planet That We Head For", "One Man's War"). Despite Dessler's loss, the closer ties he forged between Iscandar and Garmillas persisted. Vice Leader Redof Hiss updated Starsha on the political and military situation on Garmillas. Months later, Yurisha met with Admiral Gul Dietz, supreme commander of Garmillas space forces, and other leaders of the new Garmillas government ("The Distant Promised Land", "Battle Without End"). Culture and Society When Iscandarians abandoned their aggressive policies, they embraced an absolute belief in the importance of life throughout the cosmos. This new pacifist philosophy informed many of Iscandar's activities from that point, and it remained unshakable even as the Iscandarian population dwindled toward extinction. Technology Wave motion technology is the most dramatic example of Iscandar science. A single lightweight wave motion core a few centimeters in length can enable a large ship to warp across vast interstellar distances. The same device can also give a ship potent long-lasting defensive and offensive capability, in the form of force fields and artillery. At full strength, a weapon such as the wave motion gun built into Yamato can fire a single shot capable of vaporizing a continent. Dessler's use of his own wave motion gun appalled Starsha; his revelation that Yamato also possessed a wave motion gun led Starsha to consider allowing Earth to die, just to prevent the rise of another empire like Iscandar of the distant past ("Escape from the Jupiter Sphere", "The Trap on All Sides", "One Man's War", "The Distant Promised Land"). The Cosmo Reverse System embodies Iscandar's current belief in the value of all life. The consciousness of a deceased individual is preserved within the device. By drawing on the stored memories, the Cosmo Reverser can bring a dead person back to life, or heal an dying planet. The memories must be relevant to the kind of life that is being restored. In the case of Earth, the consciousness of a human was required, hence Starsha's need for an Earth ship to visit Iscandar, rather than simply delivering the device to Earth directly ("The Distant Promised Land"). Robots similar in design to the Garmilloid robots used by the Garmillas military carry out labor and security functions around the royal palace. It is unclear if the robots are of Iscandarian or Garmillas origin ("The Distant Promised Land"). Language The Iscandarian language exists in spoken and written forms, and is kept alive by Starsha and Yurisha. The few humans that have heard it describe it as a soft-sounding language like Welsh or French[http://ourstarblazers.com/vault/842/ "Ghale Garmillon! The Language System of Garmillas," by "Hoffnung," in Official Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Garmillas Mecha Book pp. 260-261 (translated by Neil Nadelman)]. Some Garmillans are able to speak at least a few phrases, but Garmillas translation technology makes full learning of the language unnecessary ("The Planet That We Head For", "One Man's War", "The Distant Promised Land"). Notes *Just as humans and other humanoid species are descended from genetic material introduced onto their respective homeworlds by Aquarius, the very human-like appearance of Iscandarians makes it possible that Iscandarians were also shaped by Aquarius. The fact that Iscandar's closest neighbor, Garmillas, was visited by Aquarius (Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark) makes it even more likely. References Japanese language information イスカンダル人 Isukandaru hito Category:Sapient species Category:Life forms Category:Iscandarians